The present invention concerns the technical field of the non-contact measurement of a value for first and foremost dimensions such as thickness and diameter of an electrically conducting, substantially non-magnetic object, based on electromagnetic induction. The present invention may also be used in order to measure dimensions as stated above and at the same time as electrical characteristics of the electrically conducting object such as electrical resistivity.
The present invention may be used during the manufacture of metal products such as plate, or strip, bar or tube where it is desirable to, measure dimensions of those products. It may further be used with measurement of dimensions in connection with pyro-metallurgical processes for production of metals. The present invention may also be used for measurement of dimensions of electrically conductive objects, including non-metallic objects, in another context such as with control of characteristics of metal parts and identification of objects that cannot be seen, such as metal objects in wood in connection with sawing and so on. The present invention may further be applied in applications according to the above where, at the same time, dimensions and electrical characteristics are desired.
A known method for non-contact measurement of the thickness of a plate to irradiate it with a radioactive radiation or with x-rays and then measure the absorption of radiation in the plate. This absorption is dependent, amongst others, on thickness of the plate and constitutes a primary measured value for the thickness. Variations in the materials composition and coatings on the surface of the material influence the absorption of radiation and reduces thereby the accuracy of such equipment. Further, the radiation used in such equipment necessitates health and safety measures.
It is known to measure the thickness of a strip or plate of an electrically conducting object with electrical induction methods. One or more transmitting coils produce a time-varying magnetic field which can penetrate into the electrically conducting object and there induce a current. These currents in their turn produce a magnetic field which in its turn induces a voltage in one or more receiving coils and there the induced voltage is used, after some signal processing, as a measure of thickness.
Such methods and devices are often based on sinusoidally varying magnetic fields where changes in amplitude and changes in phase caused by the object are measured. Both of these changes are influenced by at least three parameters in a measuring system, object position, electrical resistance of the object and thickness of the object, and therefore such systems, in their simplest forms, become fundamentally uncertain. Attempts have been made to solve that problem by introducing measurements at different frequencies in order, in a sense, to obtain even more measured parameters, but this has given the result that interpretation of the signal becomes greatly complicated and the sufficient measurement accuracy cannot be achieved.
The above problem has been solved by using a time-varying field which is characterised by a constant current supplied to a transmitting coil over a certain time period which is then suddenly cut off, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,902. By the use of this technique an induced signal in a receiving coil is measured during at least three time intervals, one directly after current cut-off, one directly after that and before changes in the magnetic field have had time to penetrate the object of measurement, and lastly during a time interval long after current cut-off when changes in the magnetic field have had time to penetrate the object of measurement. With help of at least these three measured values the thickness of the object can be calculated.
The above method has been shown to work well in many cases, but each of the three measured values include though a degree of uncertainty. Especially where it concerns the third measured value because speed of the object influences the measured value. Altogether it means that the accuracy of the measured value for thickness is not always as desired.
A method to measure thickness of a plate is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,902, with reference to FIG. 14, by means of two coils placed on opposites sides of the plate. The plate thickness is measured in that way by measuring the distance between a coil and surface of the plate for each side respectively during a time interval directly following the cut-off of current supplied to the coils. The difference between those distances coil to plate surface and the distance between the two coils is thus the thickness of the plate. Under ordinary demands for accuracy this meter works well, but with high demands for accuracy the natural variations in distance between the coils, for example due to temperature, is a considerable problem that reduces the usability of the meter.
One way to measure the dimensions of rod and similar products during manufacture has been described in U.S. applications Ser. Nos. 09/051333 and 09/051418. The methods have been shown to be useable for measurement in many production processes such as, for example hot rolling, and even here the methods have shown limitations where the demands for measurement accuracy and stability are very high. These limitations are in a context where measurement accuracy for those types of devices is determined by the accuracy of positioning of coils in the device and the resulting sensitivity for movement in the device.
The object of the present invention is to provide a method and a device for highly accurate inductive measurement of physical dimensions such as diameter or thickness of an electrically conducting object without influence of other varying parameters such as object position and the material parameters of the object. In order to produce highly accurate measurement in practice according to the above it is a precondition that the measured value is directly simply dependent on the dimensions of the object. Further, the measurement is carried out without influence from other material in the proximity of the object, such as water, oil and surface coatings. The geometric dimension is referred to in a particular predetermined direction. Thus, for example the thickness of a flat plate is referred to as a geometric dimension perpendicular to the plane of the plate, and a bars diameter as the geometric dimension perpendicular to the long axis of the bar.
This is achieved according to the present invention by the help. of appropriately shaped coils, transmitter coils, supplied with a substantially constant current producing a magnetic field in the object. An important feature of the present invention is that the field is directed so that it has a mean component, the sum of the field, which is generally perpendicular to the desired measurement direction. After a time sufficiently long enough that the field has stabilised, the current supply to the coil is cut off.
In a similar way as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,902 the measurement is begun a time after that at which current supply has been cut off. However, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,902, measurement is started directly at the time that current supply is cut off. In the present invention, that starting time after which measurement is begun is determined from the time that it takes for the field outside the object to decay. After the field outside the object has decayed, the measurement sequence is begun and the integration of the signal carried out under a time it takes for the field in the measurement area, the field due to the field in the object material, to decay. A measurement signal which is an integral based a voltage due to the decay of the field in the object material is the basis for determining a dimension of the object. As further described below, that time period after the decay of the field outside the object may subsequently be divided into two time intervals from which measurement signals are received which together form the basis for determining a dimension of an object independent of other parameters.
In the case that thickness of a plate is the geometric dimension desired, a desirable shape of magnetic field may be brought about according to the invention by means of positioning similar coils, transmitter coils, one on either side of the plate at the same distance from the plate and positioned opposite each other in regard to the magnetic field. When these coils are supplied with a substantially constant current no magnetic field component is produced in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the plate, the measurement direction, over the plate. In the case that the diameter of a bar or tube is the geometrical dimension that is desired, a desirable shape of the magnetic field is produced according, to the present invention by means of surrounding the bar/tube with a coil so that the bar/tube is placed in the centre of the coil.
The minimum time for which current supply should continue before it is cut off depends on the size of object and on the materials electrical resistivity. The minimum time is proportional to the square of the dimension and inversely proportional to the material electrical resistivity and is for example for an aluminium plate with thickness 2 mm of the order of 50 xcexc-seconds. The time that should pass from current cut-off till that time which the integrated measurement should begin should be as short as possible, but, at the same time include all of the time lapse for the decay of the field outside the object. That time is determined substantially by the coils, the transmitter coils, discharge time which is determined by the inductance of the coils and the electrical components that surround the coils. Normally that time should be kept shorter than 1 xcexc-second. The time that the integrated measurement should continue for is till substantially all field changes in the measuring area have finished, that is to say, till all significant magnetic fields have disappeared. That time is of the same order of magnitude as the minimum time current supply should continue according to the above.
Normally the changes in field are measured by means of the voltage that is induced in one or more coils, appropriately positioned. The voltage induced in such a coil is known to be proportional to dB/dt, the change in magnetic field per unit time and when the integral for this voltage is taken from the beginning time TStart to the end time TStop this gives   IntegralValue  =            K      *                        ∫          Start          Stop                ⁢                                            ⅆ              B                                      ⅆ              t                                ⁢                      xe2x80x83                    ⁢                      ⅆ            t                                =                  K        *                  (                                    B              Tstop                        -                          B              Tstat                                )                    =              K        *                  (                      0            -                          B              Tstart                                )                    
where K is the proportionality constant and BStop=0 where the field is zero at TStop means the value of the integral will be proportional to the field which, before the current cutoff, existed in the object and as well is a direct measure of the dimension of the object. If the field is substantially constant in the area where the object is, then the value of the integral will be proportional to the dimension of the object. The method according to the present invention also fulfils the goal to give an accurate measurement which is given directly from a measurement value and which is independent of everything apart from dimension.
Measuring coils for measurement of changes in magnetic field are normally placed close to the transmitting coils and symmetrically in relation to them, that being apart from that such placement is necessary for use of the method according to the invention. Measuring coils and transmitting coils may even be the same coils, but used for different functions under different time periods of the measurement. Further, the measurement may be directly measured with suitable techniques and in accordance with the above formula give the intended result for the method.
In the method according to the invention the object may move relative to the preferred position without it causing large measuring errors. With bigger movements or when the most accurate measurements are desired, another embodiment of the invention may be preferred. According to the other embodiment values may be measured, which as well as the summed changes according to the above in the two receiving coils according to the invention, may also be a difference between values from the two receiving coils, and that difference is a measurement of the position of the object.
With the use of the method for measurement of material with high electrical resistance another preferred embodiment may be used. According to that, another measurement, as well as those according to the above, the integrated induced voltage from measuring coils from time TStart to time TStart, an additional integrated voltage from time TStart to time TStart is added after a fraction of the integrated voltage from TStart to T1Start. That fraction has the purpose of compensating for the decay of the field outside the object which decay is not ideally fast and that during the time of that decay a certain outward diffusion of the field in the material takes place, which diffusion is not measured. The fraction may be an afterwards empirically determined and constant fraction or a more complicated, mathematically determined fraction dependent on both of the measurement values named above.
The present invention may advantageously be used in those cases when as well as an accurate measurement of a dimension as a measurement of electrical characteristics, such as electrical resistance and/or magnetic permeability is desired. The measurement is carried out according to the above with integration of two induced voltages, the first from time TStart to time TStart, the second from time TStart to time T1Start. In the case where electrical resistance is relatively low it is not necessary for compensation of the measurement of the dimension and the measurement value for the integrated introduced signal from TStart to T1Start may be used for calculation of the electrical resistance, which is proportional to the square of the integral value.